Faces
by SMR723
Summary: COMPLETED. While SG1 is exploring a deserted transport station, Daniel Jackson mysteriously disappears. He awakes to find himself on an alien planet, but when he discovers the mystery these aliens have been hiding, it becomes a race against time to esca
1. Default Chapter

AUTHOR'S NOTES: This story is set in season 7 before the death of Janet Fraiser. It wasoriginally rated M due to an implied non-consensual sexual encounter involving a main character but has been downgraded to T based on input I've received. There is also a sequel called "Unity" also available on this site. Many thanks to my wonderful betas, Cathy and Matt, for their feedback, patience and friendship throughout the writing process. I couldn't have done it without their love and support. Any and all feedback would be gratefully accepted and much appreciated.

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**STARGATE: SG 1  
****Faces**

**Chapter 1**

Dr. Daniel Jackson looked up from the inscriptions he'd been studying, trying to tear his mind from the fascinating puzzle they presented. "What was that, Sam?" he asked distractedly, glancing over to where the blonde, blue-eyed Air Force major, who also happened to be one of the most brilliant scientists he'd ever met, was half-hidden under a large alien console on the other side of the room.

Samantha Carter gave him a look of pure exasperation as she shimmied out from underneath the console. "Earth to Daniel. You're supposed to be helping me here. You can get back to the inscriptions when we're done."

"I thought they might help us figure out what's wrong," Daniel responded absently. "And we're not on Earth," he added as an afterthought.

Sam shook her head and tried not to laugh. Daniel was an exceptionally gifted archaeologist and linguist, but when he was immersed in one of his linguistic puzzles, it was almost impossible to get him to focus on anything else. "Okay, I'm sure you're right. After all, why wouldn't they put the instructions right there on the wall where anyone could see them?"

"You never know," Daniel muttered defensively as he tore himself from the writing on the wall to lean over, grab the tool Sam had been struggling to reach and hand it to her.

"Thanks," she responded. "Now stand in front of the console and let me know if anything happens."

Daniel obediently set himself in front of the console and looked for any sign of movement, flashing lights, or anything else to indicate that Sam's tinkering had had the desired effect of bringing the alien contraption back to life. After several minutes with no success, his attention wandered to the wall behind the console, which was also covered in ancient scribblings. They were all the more interesting when he realized he could read them. The console forgotten, he pushed his glasses up on his nose as he leaned closer to the wall, his fingers lightly brushing across the symbols as he absorbed the ancient text.

"Daniel!" Sam's exasperated voice finally broke through his concentration.

"Sam, the writing over here is different, it's a form of Latin!"

"Yeah, well, it's all Greek to me," she responded irritably. "I thought you were going to help me here."

"Um, just a minute. Okay, pull out the third crystal from the right." His hand continued to move along the wall until finally his searching fingers found the latch he'd been looking for and a hidden panel snapped open. He picked up a medium sized bluish green crystal from the storage compartment, leaned over the console and handed it to the astounded scientist.

"How . . .?"

"You were right. The instructions are right there on the wall. In a dialect of Latin."

"Latin? You weren't kidding about that?"

"Nope. Wait, what's this?" he muttered, his attention diverted by a particular symbol on the wall.

Sam snapped the crystal into place and heard a satisfying hum as the console came to life. Excited, she jumped up and watched as colored lights blinked on and off on the console face. "It's working!" she said to Daniel, glancing up to see him still deeply absorbed in the alien writing. "Colonel, Teal'c, it's working," she reported into her walkie-talkie as she turned her attention back to the console. "Daniel, come over here and help me with these symbols on the console so we can figure out what this thing is supposed to do."

She looked up in exasperation when he didn't respond, then stood and stared with dismay at the empty space where Daniel had been standing only a moment before. Colonel Jack O'Neill strode into the room, with the fourth member of their team, the Jaffa warrior Teal'c, at his heels.

"Sir, we have a problem," she reported.

* * *

General George Hammond was having a very bad day. Anytime one of his people from Stargate Command was missing it was a bad day, but Daniel Jackson and the other members of SG 1 had become almost like family to him. Somehow no matter how bad the trouble was that they got themselves into, they always seemed to be able to pull a miracle out of their hats and survive, but Hammond knew that luck had to run out some day. 'Please don't let it be today,' he prayed silently as he glared at a very glum Jack O'Neill on the viewscreen. 

"He just disappeared?" Hammond asked. "And how exactly do you explain that, Colonel?"

Major Samantha Carter's strained features appeared at the edge of the screen, and the General stifled the tug of sympathy that pulled at his heart at the worry in her eyes. "We're not sure, sir. One minute, he was standing there looking at some symbols he said were in Latin while I was working on the console, and the next minute I looked up and he was just . . . gone."

"Have you determined what the device is yet, Major? Is it some kind of transporter?"

"I'm not sure, sir. It could be. It would certainly make sense considering there's nothing else on this moon but the two room complex housing the stargate and the console room. It's possible it could be some kind of interplanetary transfer station between the two types of transport systems. But if this is a transport device, I have no idea how it works or where it's destination point could be. As you know, our initial sweeps verified the information we received from the To'kra that this entire system is uninhabited."

"I'll see if the To'kra can free up a ship to help us start scanning the nearby planets for Dr. Jackson. Will you be able to figure out how the device works in case they aren't able to send a ship right away?"

"I don't know, sir. I'm not even sure at this point how the device was activated in the first place. Other than the initial hum and flicker of lights when the console first came back on-line, I didn't see or hear anything that would indicate any type of activity had occurred. Daniel just wasn't there anymore."

"What else can we do to help you down here?"

"Can you send us somebody who can read ancient Latin?" Carter responded.

* * *

Daniel came awake slowly, the fog enveloping his brain stubbornly refusing to lift and every bone and muscle in his body aching. He moaned softly and instantly regretted it as even that slight effort sent fresh tendrils of pain through his chest. He heard a soft voice but at first couldn't understand what it was saying. Slowly the words began to make sense and he realized they were in the same dialect of Latin he had been reading earlier. 

"Try to lie still for a few minutes," the soft, sympathetic female voice said. "The trip can be quite unsettling if you haven't been properly prepared for it, as you obviously haven't been. You'll feel better soon."

Daniel concentrated on his breathing and realized it was becoming easier and less painful. He started to open his eyes, but the light was too much and they burned in protest, so he quickly closed them again. He concentrated on his other senses the feel of grass under his hand, the sound of birds calling in the distance, the smell of flowers. Then there was the sensation of a hand on his forehead and he jumped reflexively at the contact, sending fresh waves of pain throughout his body.

"I'm sorry," the soft voice said gently. "I didn't mean to startle you. Some who come through the portal become feverish. I need to see if that is happening to you."

He opened his mouth, trying to form words, but they wouldn't come. The thoughts were there where am I, what happened to me, who are you but they stubbornly refused to form themselves into coherent sentences. He briefly wondered if he'd been hit by a zat, but he couldn't remember his body ever feeling this bad after a zat blast.

Daniel concentrated on his breathing again and on the feel of the cool hand that was still on his forehead. And without realizing it was happening, he drifted back into sleep.

* * *

To Samantha Carter the Latin expert, Dr. Angelo Benedetto, looked like a man who had found his own personal nirvana. He had been scouring the writings on the wall, muttering excitedly under his breath while scribbling on his pad for two hours now and her patience was wearing thin. "Have you found anything helpful, Doctor?" 

"Helpful?" he asked distractedly. "Helpful! This is amazing! It is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. It's Latin, but no form of Latin I have ever seen before. The dialect is something totally new."

"But you **_can _**read it, right?" Carter snapped irritably.

"Read it? Of course, I can read it," the linguist responded indignantly. "Well, most of it anyway. There are a few words that don't seem to make sense in their context and some of it is rather technical. It would be very helpful to have Dr. Jackson here, but we'll be able to figure it all out eventually."

"Did I just hear the word 'eventually'," Jack O'Neill barked as he stalked into the room, his grip tightening unconsciously on the assault rifle in his hands. "Daniel's missing and I want him found now, so I better not hear the word 'eventually' from anybody in this room again."

O'Neill's sharp tone had torn the linguist's concentration from the writing on the wall and the assault rifle that appeared to be pointed straight at him brought his full attention to the angry Air Force Colonel. "This is outrageous!" the man stammered. "I'm here to help, Colonel, and I don't appreciate being threatened. I'm going as fast as I can."

"What . . . ," O'Neill started to say, then realized where his weapon was pointing and lowered it.

"Look, Doctor, we're all tense," Samantha Carter chimed in. "Until we figure out exactly what happened to Daniel, we can't be sure it won't happen to someone else. We really need some answers here. What have you discovered so far?"

"Most of the writing appears to be about the Roman God, Janus. He represents beginnings that's why January was named for him. He was also the god of gates or doors since you had to emerge through a gate or door before entering a new place – or embarking on a new journey or a new beginning."

"That could be important," Sam remarked. "It could be an indication that there's some kind of portal or door here."

"Or it may simply refer to the Stargate," Teal'c interposed.

"But then why would the writing be in here instead of out in the other room by the gate itself?" Carter responded.

"As I was saying," Benedetto interrupted, "this section here appears to have been written later than the rest. You can see that the writing is different and when you look closer you can see where a new panel was actually placed over the existing text -- I hope we can take it down at some point and see the original writing. That would be most extraordinary."

Carter cleared her throat, bringing the linguist back on track. "Oh, yes. Anyway, as I was saying, the writing on the panel appears to be instructions for maintaining and operating the console. It's all rather technical, which makes it difficult to decipher without a knowledge of the engineering principles involved. I'm doing the best I can considering my limited knowledge in that area."

"Maybe I can help with that," Carter suggested.

"Well, try to figure out what this thing is and what exactly it does **before** we activate it again," O'Neill snapped and strode out of the room.

* * *

Daniel slowly came back to consciousness, pulled from the gentle caress of sleep by the droning of voices. At first they seemed impossibly far away, but slowly the sounds came into focus. 

". . . here. We have no idea who he is or what he's doing here. You could be endangering us all."

"As a priestess of the temple, it is my duty to care for those whom Lord Janus sends through the portal to us. I cannot simply ignore my obligations."

"You're being ridiculous, Larinda. How can you be so sure Janus sent him? He is the first to come through the portal in a very, very long time. And it's obvious from his condition that he wasn't properly prepared for the journey. Wouldn't Janus have prepared him if he truly were sending him to be our salvation? No, Janus abandoned us to our fate many generations ago. There is no reason to believe he would bother to intercede now."

"Lord Janus has not abandoned us! You should not speak such sacrilege. It should be clear by the fact that this one is fully human that he has answered our prayers. And who else would have the power to send him? With all the years you've spent tinkering in the temple, have you ever been able to make the portal work?"

"All of this is irrelevant," the man's voice continued heatedly. "What will happen after the Janalia when you are no longer here to watch over him? Do you really believe Lysandra will be so nurturing?"

"I'll deal with that problem when the time comes," the woman shot back just as heatedly. "I am a direct descendant of Lord Janus, just as you are. You know there are ways around it."

"If Lysandra chooses to cooperate. Do you really believe she will?"

Daniel's eyes finally opened to the sight of a man and woman arguing several feet from where he lay. Both wore clothing reminiscent of the Augustan and Julian eras of first century Rome on Earth. The man's red toga was shorter than usual and had a more tailored look, and he wore matching pants under it, while the woman had a light blue jacket over her flowing white dress. What little he could see of the room was nondescript. Blank walls with no windows or artwork a hospital, or perhaps a prison. He moved his hand tentatively and was relieved when the action caused no pain. He tried to open his mouth to speak but it was dry and all he could force out was a small sound.

The woman turned to him immediately and rushed over to the bed. She touched his forehead and smiled at him. Turning to her companion she reported, "The fever has broken. This discussion may now be moot. He should be able to answer our questions soon." Turning back to Daniel, she gently lifted his head from the pillow with one hand while bringing a cup of what appeared to be water to his parched lips with the other. "Drink this. It'll help you feel better."

The warmth and reassurance in her voice stilled the small voice of caution in his head and Daniel drank gratefully from the cup. The water was cool and refreshing. After finishing it, he cleared his throat and was relieved when he opened his mouth to speak and real words came out. "Where am I? How did I get here?"

The man looked at him with alarm and the woman simply looked perplexed. "What was that he said," the man asked. "I didn't recognize any of the words."

"I don't know," she responded. "Perhaps he needs a few more minutes to adjust. His brain may still be a bit addled from the fever. It was very high."

Cursing himself silently for having forgotten they weren't speaking English, Daniel searched his mind for the proper words. Latin was a necessary language for any archaeologist, but this dialect was difficult, especially since he'd only heard it actually spoken in the few words exchanged by the man and woman in the room. Finally, he found the words he wanted and tried again. "Where am I? How did I get here?"

Relief washed across the woman's face. The man still looked concerned, but much of the tension seemed to leave him as well. "See, I told you he only needed a few minutes to adjust," the woman admonished her companion, before turning back to Daniel. "I am Larinda, priestess of the temple of the great and mighty god Janus who sees and knows all. This is Consul Octavius, one of the leaders of our people. Our country is called Remana. What is your name?"

"Daniel. Daniel Jackson."

"Daniel Jackson," she repeated thoughtfully. I have never heard such a name before. Where do you come from, Daniel Jackson, and why did Lord Janus send you to us?"

"I come from a place called Earth, although that's not where I was when I ended up here. I'm an explorer, a scientist I study ancient civilizations. I was visiting ruins at another place, a deserted place whose name I do not know. Then I woke up here. I don't remember how I got here or who might have sent me. One minute I was looking at some writing on a wall and the next I woke up here."

"Then Lord Janus did not send you," the man said evenly, satisfaction evident in his voice.

"Janus," Daniel repeated, trying to place the name in the huge catalog of Earth and alien mythology locked in his brain. "I know that name."

"Then you have met him," the woman responded hopefully.

"No, I don't think so. It's something I remember from my studies." He rubbed his head, which was beginning to ache with the strain. "Janus, Janus. Roman god of beginnings. The month of January was named for him. Something to do with gates or portals. Well, that would fit, wouldn't it," he added absently. Shaking his head to clear it, he continued, "He was usually depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions or four faces directed to the four compass points. They would be used on guideposts or signposts as a blessing to travelers beginning a new journey."

"You have heard of him then," Larinda said with relief. "I told you he has not forsaken us," she directed to Octavius. "Even though you did not meet him, he must have sent you to us, perhaps as a sign to those who have lost their faith." She sent another meaningful look toward Octavius, whose jaw tightened at the dig.

"I don't think so," Daniel said. "Sam and I were working . . . Sam! Did anyone else come through the portal with me?"

"No. There was no one else," Larinda responded. "Who is this Sam of whom you speak?"

"A . . . fellow explorer, a friend," he responded. "I have to find her. She'll be worried about me."

"I see," Larinda responded. "She is special to you."

"Special? I suppose. Oh, you mean _special_. No, no. Just a friend. Um," he asked with sudden discomfort as he shifted on the bed and realized he was naked under the blanket, "you wouldn't happen to know what happened to my clothes would you?"

"They were . . . damaged during your trip through the portal," she responded. "I will get you something appropriate to wear while you are here."

"Was there anything else with me when I came through," Daniel asked carefully, thinking how comforting a gun, a zat, a knife or even his notebook or recorder would be right now.

"Nothing of any importance," she responded neutrally and smiled comfortingly at him. "The portal is designed to protect us from intruders and those who wish to do us harm. Those who are not properly prepared for the journey may find it unpleasant and distressful and may find that they've . . . misplaced some items during the trip."

Daniel noticed her careful choice of words but, remembering that the Asgard had technology that was able to strip weapons during transport, decided not to call her on it just yet.

Looking into his intense blue eyes, Larinda knew he didn't believe her, but was not concerned about it. Instead she felt great relief, for she knew in her heart that her god had sent this man to her in order to save their people.


	2. FacesChapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"It's been two days Carter," Jack O'Neill snapped irritably.

"I'm aware of that, sir," Sam snapped back, trying to rub the tension out of her aching shoulders. "I'm doing everything I can think of."

Seeing the strain on her face, O'Neill bit back the hurtful words that crossed his mind, but he couldn't keep them totally out of his face.

_Or maybe that's my own guilt talking_, Sam thought to herself, reading an accusation that her best wasn't good enough into the expression. She knew O'Neill well enough to know that he was a man of action, one who got easily frustrated at having to sit around waiting for somebody else to do something, but that didn't take the sting out of being on the receiving end of his ire.

"Perhaps Major Carter needs to rest," suggested Teal'c evenly. "She has been working non stop since Daniel Jackson disappeared. I find that after a rest interval or a session of Kel Noreem, I am able to see things more clearly."

"Meditation's not what I need right now," Sam said miserably. "And there's no possible way I could sleep."

"I'm sure Dr. Fraiser could fix that," O'Neill responded.

"I don't want drugs clouding my mind," Sam argued.

Again, O'Neill held back the nasty retort that came to mind and rubbed his own aching eyes, reminding himself that Carter wasn't the only one who hadn't slept in almost three days. "Teal'c's right," he said. "None of us are thinking clearly now. Take three hours. I don't care if you lay there and stare at the ceiling," he said, raising his voice to cut off her objections. "None of us are doing Daniel any good right now. Dr. Benedetto is still working on his translations and should have more information for us in a few hours. That's an order, Carter."

"Yes, sir," Sam responded sharply, her own anger and frustration evident in how hard the notepad she had been holding hit the opposite wall, before she turned and stalked out toward the Stargate in the next room.

* * *

Daniel examined the city of Remana from a parapet at the top of the temple, admiring the architecture, so reminiscent of ancient Rome, yet with clear signs of innovation he was not accustomed to seeing in worlds dominated by the goa'uld. Most of the transplanted human civilizations they had found so far had shown little signs of progress in the hundreds or thousands of years since they had been abducted from Earth. Of course, on those planets their goa'uld oppressors had frowned on the innovation that fueled progress. After all, that would have required a freedom of thought and unbridled creativity that were anathema to the rule by fear and oppression at which the goa'uld excelled.

As in ancient Rome, creativity and innovation thrived here. Daniel's gaze was held by the graceful lines of a coliseum that had to be several miles away and yet seemed almost close enough to touch. It dwarfed all the other buildings around it, thrusting four stories of graceful columns and detailed statuary into the air as if they were weightless. And symbols of the god Janus were everywhere adorning signposts, doorways, gateways, even windows, as far as he could see. It seemed that anything that could even remotely be deemed an entrance was marked with the god's symbols.

"I see the symbols of Janus everywhere. What can you tell me about him?" he asked casually, as he tugged self-consciously at the toga Larinda had given him to wear, which had obviously been designed for someone much shorter.

"You promised to speak in your language. How else am I to learn it if you do not?" Larinda responded.

"I'm sorry," he said switching to English. "I've been reading some of the inscriptions on the buildings in your language so I lost track of which one I was using. It's amazing how quickly you're picking up English. I've never known anyone before who was so fluent after only two days."

She smiled at the compliment. "It has many similarities to our language, and I enjoy the challenge. How many languages do you know that it is so easy to confuse them?"

Daniel pondered the question a moment. "Including some of the dialects I've picked up in my travels, I'd say I can read somewhere between 40 and 45 and can speak around 30 with some fluency, and a few others not quite so fluently."

"That's very impressive," she responded.

He shrugged dismissively, "It's something that's always come naturally to me. I can't really take any credit for it. What about you?"

"I can read and speak all that is written in our texts, both old and new – most of my people know only the new. We have not had contact with another species for many, many centuries so there are not many variations to know."

"I'd like to see those texts some time if you don't mind. I'd like to learn as much as I can about your people while I'm here."

"Perhaps that can be arranged," she responded neutrally.

Daniel tried not to frown, having come to realize that she only used that tone of voice when she wanted to put him off without actually using the word 'no'. "I hope so. Anyway, we've gotten off topic," he said with forced cheerfulness. "You were going to tell me about Janus."

"He is our god. He protects us," Larinda responded uncomfortably. "What else is there to know?"

"You've actually seen him?" he asked, wondering how to tactfully ask if her god had glowing eyes and a funny voice.

"No. He has not visited us in human form in many, many years. But he still watches over us."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Because he is our god. He would not desert us," she replied. Her eyes had grown troubled, so he didn't press, but she continued on her own. "I am his priestess, as was my mother before me, and I have served him faithfully since I was very young. It saddens me that he does not come in human form to us any longer, but it is my duty to ensure our people do not lose faith in him or falter in their worship."

"What would happen if they did?"

Aghast, she replied, "he would stop protecting us."

"What does he protect you from?"

She struggled with that one for a moment. How much could she safely tell this man about the specter that overshadowed their lives? How could she make him understand? In most ways that would matter to someone from another world, their lives had been peaceful and uneventful for a very long time. How did she explain that they didn't need Janus so much to protect them from outside influences as they needed him to save them from themselves. "Hunger, adversity, wars . . . those and all the other evils men visit upon one another," she finally responded. "We have not known them for many centuries."

Daniel couldn't help wondering if the things she described had disappeared because of Janus' arrival or since his departure, but resisted the impulse to voice that particular question.

"He also gave us the portal to protect us from those who would do us harm. Besides," she added, "I do not need to see him in the flesh to know he is with us every month in spirit at the Janalia."

"What is the Janalia?"

"It is a celebration held at the time of the new moon."

"Of course, the beginning of a new cycle."

"It is a time of renewal . . . and of change," she added, sadness creeping into her voice.

"I look forward to seeing it," he said. "I've always been interested in the ceremonies of other cultures. When is the next one?"

Her smile disappeared entirely. "It is too soon for you to be involved in such things. The next one is only two days away. You do not know enough about our ways yet to participate. Perhaps next month."

"I may not still be here next month," he responded.

She shifted uncomfortably beside him, deliberately looking over the city so as not to meet his eyes. "You could always come back for a visit," she responded too neutrally.

"That's true," Daniel responded just as neutrally, knowing she was holding something back, but also knowing he didn't dare push too hard. He needed to gain her trust in order to be allowed the freedom to explore the city, and asking questions that removed the smile from her delicate face or the light from her sparkling green eyes was not the way to do that. And once he had that freedom, he expected he would easily be able to find the answers he needed without her help.

* * *

"Okay, now that everyone's had some rest, let's go through it from the beginning one more time," General Hammond ordered.

It was unusual, and a clear sign of how serious the situation was, that the General was making an on site appearance, so Carter resisted the urge to groan out load. As usual, O'Neill was not so politic, "We've already been through it a hundred times, General."

"Then one more time isn't going to hurt you, is it **_Colonel_**?"

"No, sir," O'Neill responded glumly.

"I was under the console trying to figure out how to make it work, and Daniel was over at that wall looking at the inscriptions," Carter said.

"Okay," said the General. "Then get under the console, right where you were. Teal'c, you be Dr. Jackson."

Reluctantly, Carter stretched herself out under the console.

"Then what happened, Major?"

"I had asked Daniel for some help, but he'd gotten distracted by the inscriptions, so I snapped at him. He said something about maybe the instructions were in the inscriptions, and I said something like of course they'd be right there on the wall where everyone could see them. I started to come out from under the console, but he came over and handed me the tool I'd been trying to reach."

"Go ahead and do it," the General urged.

Following Carter's instructions, Teal'c walked over and leaned over as if picking up a tool and handing it to her. Carter focused on remembering what had happened next. "I told him to stand at the console and watch for any signs of activity while I worked. Nothing happened, then he made some kind of remark about the inscriptions over there being in Latin, and I made a joke about it all being Greek to me."

"That's a good one, Carter," O'Neill muttered under his breath, earning a glare from the General that caused him to close his mouth, set his face in a neutral expression and stand at attention.

"Then he said to remove the third crystal and I heard him moving around, then he handed me another crystal and said to put that one in. I asked how he knew what to do and he said the instructions really were on the wall, in Latin. When I put the crystal in, I could feel the console hum as it powered up, and I jumped up to look at it. A series of lights flashed across the face of it, then stopped.

"Where was Doctor Jackson then?"

"Over by that wall still looking at the inscriptions."

"You're sure he was still there when you got up?"

Carter thought about it and said, "yes, I'm absolutely sure."

"Then what happened?"

"I started to look at the console while I called the Colonel and Teal'c on the walkie-talkie. I was still looking at it when I asked Daniel to come over and help me with the symbols on it. When he didn't answer, I looked up and he was gone. The panel to the storage area he had gotten the crystal from was still open, but he wasn't there anymore."

"And what had you touched during that time?"

"That's just it, General. I hadn't touched anything. Unless my hand just passing over the console somehow caused this, I can't figure out what happened. And I haven't been able to make it happen again," she added in frustration.

"Then what was Dr. Jackson doing that could have caused this to happen?"

"I don't know, sir," she responded in frustration. "As far as I know, all he was doing was looking at inscriptions. I checked out the storage compartment where he got the crystal first thing to make sure there were no controls of any kind. From what I can see, it's just a storage area for extra supplies for the main console. I've checked for power signatures in the wall and found nothing. I've tried pressing the symbols randomly, and nothing."

"Is it possible that restoring the power to the console activated some kind of automatic system?"

"It's possible, but I can't figure out what kind. And, again, after the initial power up of the console, there were no flashing lights or sounds to indicate that anything was happening. If it is some kind of transport device, it's extremely quiet and efficient. We know the goa'uld use the ring transporters which make noise and have a visual effect, and even the Asgard beaming technology is detectable by a flash of light. Whatever this is, it's extremely advanced."

"Another plaything left behind by the Ancients?" O'Neill asked.

"Possibly," Carter responded. "But if it is, it may be just as hard to figure out as the stargates."

"You said you called Colonel O'Neill on your walkie talkie right before it happened?"

"Yes, sir."

"Have you tried that again."

"Not on it's own. I mean, we've been using the walkie-talkies in here since it happened without any effect, so I don't think it's the radio waves that triggered it." She turned thoughtful, "But I guess it wouldn't hurt to give that a closer look."

* * *

"Will you take me back to where you found me today?" Daniel asked patiently, as he unconsciously moved to adjust the ill-fitting toga again. He was much taller than most of the inhabitants of Remana and Larinda had been unable to find one that fit any better than the one she'd given him the day before. He had finally convinced her to bring him his own clothes, hoping they could be salvaged; but she had been right, they were ruined. And all of the pockets had been empty. He still wasn't sure whether that had happened during his trip through the portal or after, but he'd known better than to ask. He didn't need to be career military like Jack O'Neill to know that expressing doubts about the integrity of your hosts when you were alone and defenseless was not a recipe for a long and happy life.

The one bright spot had been that when he'd described his glasses and explained why he needed them, Larinda had conveniently found them and brought them to him. It gave him hope that other things might turn up once he had the freedom to look for them.

Larinda sighed heavily and tensed slightly beside him. He'd asked the question every day since he'd been strong enough to stand and each time been told he wasn't well enough yet for such a strenuous journey. It had not been as apparent a lie then as it would be now since it was obvious that he was fully recovered from his trip through the portal. She managed to keep her voice light and dispassionate, "I don't know why you're so anxious to go back there. It's just woods and grass. Nothing very interesting."

Feeling his patience starting to wear thin, especially since he'd not been allowed to leave the temple proper at all since his arrival, Daniel made an effort to hold his temper in check. "You know I want to figure out if I can find a way back."

"Back where?" she asked, perplexed.

"Back where I came from," he responded, the exasperation clear in his voice.

"But you can't go back, Daniel. It's not possible. Lord Janus sent you here for a reason. And even if you could go back, I don't know why you'd want to. Aren't you happy here?" She managed to bite back the words 'with me' that had almost tumbled out so carelessly. It wouldn't do for him to know how important his continued presence had become to her.

"Larinda, I've enjoyed your company, and what I've been able to see of your country from the temple, very much," the sarcasm had slipped in unplanned, but he felt some satisfaction as he saw her react to it. "But my friends are going to be very worried about me and they're going to be looking for me. If they manage to find their way through the portal, I need to leave them a message so they know where to find me." A thought suddenly struck him. "If the place where I arrived is so far away, how is it that you found me so quickly."

She'd known he was too smart to be deflected for long and had expected that question would come soon enough, but it still saddened her. "I told you, I'm a priestess of the temple."

"And what does that have to do with it?"

"Lord Janus signals the priestess whenever something is coming through the portal."

Daniel just stared at her. "And where exactly do you get this signal?"

"Come," she said resignedly. "I'll show you."


	3. FacesChapter3

**Chapter 3**

Daniel couldn't help gaping as she led him through the maze of passages that made up the temple. Although he'd been up and about inside the structure for three days now, he was still not allowed to wander alone and had seen none of the inner chambers. The intricate carvings and decorations were an archaeologist's dream come true, and he could tell from the changes in the stone and carvings that they were now entering the oldest section of the structure. As they passed fresco after fresco full of beautiful carvings, he felt the first stirrings of real anger and resentment that he'd been cooped up in the newer sections of the building and away from such incredible treasures.

"This place is amazing," he said, hurrying after Larinda, who despite being almost 6 inches shorter than him, set a pace that made it obvious she was anxious to keep him moving. "I'd like to be able to study these carvings and inscriptions in more detail."

"I thought you were anxious to get back to your friends," she responded with annoyance.

"I didn't realize those things were mutually exclusive," he shot back.

She stopped in front of a door, her hands fisted at her sides as though she were fighting for control. She took a deep breath, then another and finally raised her hand to activate the doorswitch.

Daniel had to restrain the nervous laugh that wanted to force itself out when the doors opened. It was the central chamber of a goa'uld ship – a very old, very worn goa'uld ship, but a ship just the same. He wondered idly whether the thing could still fly or if the locals, not knowing what it really was, had effectively trapped it inside as they built the temple around it. They had certainly done wonders with the interior he thought, looking at the fine tapestries on the walls and the statues, frescoes and murals adorning every available space.

Larinda nodded to a woman sitting in one of two ornate chairs facing what would normally be the control station for the ship, and the woman rose quickly and left the room. Daniel's eyes flew over the control panel, taking in as much as he could while he had the opportunity. Many of the functional components were silent, with no telltale lights or sounds to indicate they were even operational anymore. Larinda pointed to a particular light on the panel. "This light comes on and an alarm goes off when something is coming through the portal."

"What if no one is here?"

"This is the temple of the god Janus," she snapped. "Someone is always here to serve our master's needs."

Daniel wasn't sure what he'd said that had made her so irritable, so he remained silent and turned to look at some of the decorations instead. The carvings were disturbing, depicting men and women with two heads and 4 arms coming out of a single torso as if they were being born by being torn in half.

Larinda watched as he intently studied the drawings, a perplexed look crossing his face as he moved closer to study a particular image or symbol. She could almost feel the time rushing by, setting an inexorable trap for her. Tonight was Janalia. Even though she did not intend to participate, he needed to understand what was happening – in case something went terribly wrong.

"You wanted to know about my people," Larinda said softly from his side.

Daniel looked at her in surprise, having been so engrossed in the images on the walls he'd forgotten she was there. Silently she handed him a large book. It was obviously very old but lovingly cared for. The ancient writings were difficult to read in spots but he was soon fully engrossed in the incredible story it had to tell.

Daniel wasn't sure how long he'd been reading when he finally closed the book, but he found that the hand he'd rested on the cover was trembling. He looked at Larinda, who had been sitting there watching him the entire time he read, and felt as though he were looking at a complete stranger. "What . . .? Who. . .?" How could he even begin to ask the questions that were going through his mind?

She gave him a strained smile. "What am I? Who am I?" Those are very good questions and not easy ones to answer as you've discovered. Right now, this minute, I am Larinda, priestess of the temple of the mighty god Janus. Tomorrow . . . tomorrow I might not be."

"Your people are shapeshifters?" he asked, trying to wrap his mind around the concept.

"Once we were, yes," she responded sadly. "From what I've read in the ancient texts and what has been passed down through the line of priestesses, it appears our people were once very happy. And very free to be whoever or whatever they wanted to be. They welcomed strangers from other worlds with open arms, because who could really harm a being that could be humanoid one moment and part of the air or ground the next? We feared no one and nothing. And that arrogance was our undoing.

"One day a stranger came, a human, or so my ancestors thought. They had met humans before and had found their passion and intelligence fascinating. Theirs was an easy shape to take on and our people enjoyed interacting with them. So when this one, who seemed friendly, curious and eager to know all about our kind came, she was accepted without concern or fear. But it was a trap. For how could they have known she was a god who had come to punish them for their sins of vanity and arrogance."

"She wasn't a god," Daniel interrupted, "she was a goa'uld, a symbiotic alien that extends its life by living inside a human host."

"What do you mean?" Larinda asked dumbfounded. "How can you say such a thing? I have read the text you just read many times and it does not say any such thing."

"I know it from first hand experience. My people first learned about the goa'uld almost ten years ago. We've been fighting them ever since, trying to maintain our freedom while helping those on other planets whom they have already enslaved. During that time we discovered that the goa'uld have been taking humans from our planet for millennia and transplanting them across the universe. It is one of their most common tricks to pose as the 'god' worshipped by the people they are trying to enslave to encourage their obedience and discourage resistance. It generally works because they usually prey on less advanced cultures that are easily fooled by the tricks of their superior technology. I don't understand why it worked on your people, though. The book says she tricked them, but it doesn't say how."

"She found a way to trap them, to keep them from being able to change form. Once locked into a single form, they were at her mercy. Without the ability to shift, they were susceptible to injury, sustained torture, even death."

"Sounds just like someone I know," Daniel murmured thoughtfully, rubbing his hand across his forehead, which had suddenly begun to ache with tension. "I don't see any name given to this being in the text. Do you know what she was called?"

"No one ever speaks her name. When the evil one fled and Lord Janus granted us his protection, it was under the condition that she be banished in word and deed forever."

"Does the name Nirrti sound familiar?"

Larinda's face paled. "Don't! You mustn't!"

"It's all right. She's dead."

"She is a god, how could she be dead?"

"I've met her in person and she is no god. Just a very evil goa'uld. And I know she's dead because my friends were there when it happened."

"If you were not there yourself, how can you be sure? Such evil is not easy to destroy."

"Believe me, my friends made sure."

"But I don't understand. If she was not a god intent on punishing my people, why would she do such terrible things to them?"

"I expect she was experimenting -- trying to engineer a superior host for the goa'uld. And what better host could there be for someone masquerading as a god than a shapeshifter? Can you imagine the power it would have given her over lesser species if she could manipulate her shape at will? They would have fallen at her feet in terror. It also would have made it easier for her to escape from danger while still appearing godlike. And it would have given her incredible power among the other goa'uld."

"But the text says she stole our ability to shapeshift as a punishment."

"But it doesn't say anything about her being able to shapeshift after she supposedly stole the ability from you, does it? The text has been written to highlight her godlike abilities. If you read it eliminating that bias, it's pretty easy to guess what actually happened."

Larinda only frowned at him, perplexed.

"Look at this passage here. It reads as if there was a valiant fight between the first shapeshifter captured and the god trying to steal its power. What it really says is that her first experiment failed miserably. See where it talks about her placing the 'power stealer' into the shapeshifter but it falls out the first time. She made the mistake of attempting to introduce the goa'uld symbiote directly into the shapeshifter. The shapeshifter simply shifted around it. With no dedicated central nervous system for the symbiote to attach itself to, it simply fell to the floor.

"But she learned from that mistake and, as you said, developed the technique to trap your kind in one shape. That had its own problems because once the shapeshifter was released from the field she used, it could shift again, leaving the goa'uld on the ground again.

"According to the text, that's when she introduced the human element, bringing in the 'vessels of life.' My guess would be that she realized she couldn't take over a shapeshifter directly, so she kidnapped humans from Earth's Rome, brought them here and put the humans and shapeshifters together."

Larinda's voice was hollow as she picked up the story, "She forced them to mate."

"I expect there was genetic engineering to help the process along," Daniel added. "That seems to be one of her areas of specialty."

"But because the resulting progeny were part human, part shapeshifter, they only had limited shapeshifting abilities," Larinda said. "What would be the point? And she told them she had done it deliberately as a punishment. Why?"

"To reinforce her image as a god. She wouldn't have seemed very godlike if she admitted she hadn't planned that outcome. And it worked out for her because those progeny were much better candidates to be hosts for the goa'uld. I'm sure Nirrti expected that, given enough time, she could overcome the problems through genetic engineering and create a compatible host with full shapeshifting abilities."

"But what about Lord Janus?" she asked. "The text says she introduced a power stealer into the first of the progeny and that was how he was brought to life, but later the two gods fought for control of our people. He won, but she escaped and he followed to wreak his vengeance on her for what she had done to our people."

"It's hard to tell from what's here, but my guess would be another unexpected outcome. She probably underestimated her ability to control him once his symbiote had been placed in one of the progeny." Daniel examined the console closely again. "Do you know how to operate this? If Niirti did leave in a hurry, she may have left some of her research here. It would be helpful to know exactly what she was trying to do."

Larinda pressed several controls on the console and lights began to blink. "It is the primary duty of the priestesses to keep track of the births, matings and deaths among our people. We put all of the information in here."

As Daniel read the information that scrolled across the screen, he felt a queasiness grow in his stomach. Finally, he turned away from the screen in disgust.

"What's wrong?" Larinda asked with concern.

"What's wrong?" he responded numbly. "The experiment never ended. The line of priestesses has been continuing her research for her all of this time. So much detailed information about births, matings, deaths, all linked to specific lineages . . . which combinations of genes result in the most stable progeny, or the most unstable. If she walked back in here today, Niirti could pick up right where she left off."

"I don't understand. What do you mean?" Larinda asked with alarm. "We keep this information to ensure the birth of several from the pure bloodline of our god in each generation. It must be so or there would be no one left undamaged by the tainted bloodlines."

Daniel rubbed his head again, trying to fight back the monumental headache that was developing at the thought of what Niirti had done to these people. How could he explain to Larinda that she was a glorified lab assistant, genetically engineered to make sure someone sane was there to continue gathering all the data until someone came by who knew what to do with it all.

Reading the expression on his face, Larinda cried out, "Then all that I have believed, all that I have dedicated my life to has been a lie." Covering her face with her hands, she began to cry.

Daniel remained silent, not knowing how to comfort her. "I'm sorry," he finally said leaning over to take her in his arms.

She cried against his shoulder for several minutes before finally regaining control. "I'm sorry. This has all been a terrible shock," she whispered, the pain so evident in her eyes melting his heart. As he leaned over to kiss her, a chime sounded. She turned from him guiltily, brushing the last of the tears from her eyes before pressing a button on the console.

The young woman Larinda had dismissed earlier entered carrying a tray with a pitcher of water, two glasses and several small cakes. "Would you care for something to eat and drink before the ceremony, Priestess?" she asked solicitously. "It will begin in an hour and you have been here for many hours without nourishment."

"Thank you, Julia, but we will not be attending. Miranda will be conducting the ceremony. She has advised Consul Octavius of the change in plans."

"Yes, priestess," the girl murmured, clearly surprised by the news, as she hurried out of the room.

Larinda rubbed her aching head wearily with one hand as she reached for the pitcher with the other. She poured two glasses of water and handed one to Daniel with one of the cakes, then took the same for herself.

"Why is the ceremony so important?" he asked as he quickly devoured the cake and downed the glass of water before reaching for another of each. "She seemed surprised that you'd miss it."

Larinda took a long drink of water and chewed thoughtfully on her cake before answering. "You know so much already, you may as well know the rest. Before they went to war against each other in the third generation, the one you call Nirrti and Lord Janus were able to eliminate all the true shapeshifters. All that were left of them were the progeny. Lord Janus impregnated many of the females himself, and I assume from what you've said that his DNA would have been affected by the symbiote he carried, putting that into the mix as well. There were also several other power stealers introduced into the progeny of the second and third generations, and they continued to mate with the other progeny until Lord Janus had them executed after Nirrti's betrayal. As additional generations were born and the bloodlines of the various parents continued to intermingle, our people evolved into what they are today."

"Which is?"

"A species of duality. Each entity has two distinct personalities that share the body. And each personality has a distinct identity down to different body size and shape, hair and eye color. In some the personalities are not even of the same sex."

Daniel shook his head. It made a sick kind of sense. The goa'uld personalities were too strong to be overcome and the shapeshifters had adapted the only way they could in order to protect their own personalities. "How . . .?" He stopped, not even knowing how to frame the question.

"How do they manage to coexist peacefully within the same body? That is the deepest, darkest secret kept by the priestesses and consuls. They coexist peacefully because they do not know."

Daniel had thought it was impossible for her to say anything else that could shock him, but realized as the words hit him how terribly wrong he'd been. "They don't know? How can they not know?"

"Each personality has the body for a month at a time. On the night of the Janalia, everyone in the city gathers at the coliseum for the celebration, where they are given food and drink that is laced with a strong drug that deadens the will, preventing the current personality from retaining control. Then certain sounds built into the ceremony trigger the transformation. The people have been taught that Lord Janus comes to us at the ceremony and will take some loyal followers with him on his travels but does not always bless them with memories of such adventures. That easily answers most questions that those who notice inconsistencies upon regaining control of the body have come up with. There are more minute details to cover other contingencies, but very few even bother to question anymore."

"So, when this ceremony happens, everyone changes to their other personality? They live their lives for a month, then the following month they change again?"

"To put it very simply, yes."

"And they don't suspect anything?"

She shrugged. "It is impossible to know what people suspect. There are those who have unexpected fits of madness and start screaming about all sorts of impossible things. For most people, as long as it has no noticeable effect on their own lives, they have no reason to ask questions. And they know just enough of our history to fear what else Lord Janus will do to them if they make him angry enough with their questions."

"But you told me Janus hasn't been here in human form for many years."

She just looked at him.

"They don't know that either?"

"Of course not. He is a god. Much can be easily explained away by the vagaries of godhood."

"Does this mean you'll change too," Daniel asked carefully, trying to keep the nervousness out of his voice.

"No. That is why I'm staying here. The priestesses and consuls are not chosen, they have been carefully bred directly from Lord Janus' bloodline. Throughout the centuries they have been there to ensure that in each generation there are several who are born of unions between those who are direct descendants of Lord Janus, without the taint of the other bloodlines. Those few know of their Other and have greater control over the transformation. There are even some who have a limited ability to communicate with their Other to prevent power struggles over control of the body at inopportune times."

Daniel felt as if his head was spinning from the overload of information. He took another deep drink of the cold water and leaned back in his seat, pressing the cool glass against his suddenly aching head. The room felt as if it had abruptly shifted and begun to wobble around him. He had the unsettling thought that perhaps the ship had been activated and was taking off when he heard the door open. Consul Octavius was standing there with a small bell-like object in his hand.

"Octavius, what are you doing," Larinda asked, struggling to her feet, her voice slurring slightly. "Why did you bring the chimes here. Miranda was supposed to notify you that I'm not participating in the ceremony tonight. Surely you understand why?"

"I know your reasons," he responded. "I never said I agreed with them."

A rhythmic sound that reminded Daniel of a gong reverberated through the room. "What's going on?" he asked frantically, a feeling of sickness and nausea pressing against him.

Larinda had fallen to her knees, "You drugged the food and water," she hissed. "Why? I need more time!"

"More time for what?" Octavius hissed. "You know what has to be done. You've known from the moment he arrived. And yet you let your feelings for this human overcome your duty to your people. Lysandra will not be so weak."

"No!!" she screamed.

Daniel's vision was doubling and tripling on him but he struggled to his feet to try to help her. As he reached out to her, she saw him and pushed him back. "Get out. Get out now. Before it's too late."

The push sent Daniel sprawling back against the console, and the impact of his body knocked open the door to a storage compartment in its base. He saw the twisted pieces of what remained of the 9mm and zat he'd been carrying before his arrival, but beside them, in perfect condition, was his knife. He struggled against the multiple images clouding his eyes and grabbed the weapon. With it clutched in his hand, he rolled as far from Larinda as he could get before grabbing onto an ornate chest to try to pull himself up. But he stopped, frozen in shock as Larinda's body rippled before him. For a few seconds he thought he saw a face on either side of her head, one capped with Larinda's lovely blonde hair, the other with a rich jet black. Larinda screamed again, and her face faded into a sea of jet black hair.

Daniel gasped for breath, his body shaking from the horror of what he'd just witnessed. Then the body was moving toward him and, as she got first to her knees and then to her feet, the sea of black hair flowed back to reveal a woman who could have stepped down from one of the statue pedestals lining the walls. He had a quick glimpse of strong aristocratic features, an aquiline nose and wide dark eyes surrounded by ebony hair.

"Lysandra, do you know what's happening," Octavius barked from the doorway.

Something about the man was different, something in his voice, but Daniel couldn't focus clearly enough on him to figure out what it was. The raven haired beauty with the dark brown eyes and the dangerous smile was the more immediate threat.

"Of course," she sneered at him. "I have known all along. Larinda is a fool to think there is any possibility she could control me. I simply watched and waited while she prattled around discovering things she has no business knowing. She is the puppet, not I." Her smile grew wider as she inspected Daniel slumped against the chest, trying to regain control of his wildly hammering heart so he could drag himself to his feet again.

"Stop struggling, human," she said. "It will be much pleasanter for you that way."

"What are you talking about? What do you want with me?"

"Oh, did Larinda leave out that little detail? She's such a stupid little thing. Has no concept of what's really important."

She was moving closer to him as she spoke and Daniel instinctively gripped the knife tighter, shifting it into a striking position.

"I believe I interrupted before she could finish," Octavius said dryly.

"How terribly rude of you," Lysandra laughed. It was a harsh sound, one that held no pleasure, only the promise of pain. "You see, Daniel -- it is Daniel, isn't it? I don't always get every detail clearly through Larinda's muddled little mind -- we have this little problem with genetic impurities mucking up the bloodlines. Nirrti may have been a genius but she was also a fool. She saw that Janus was unable to maintain control over his body and that having to share it with another being almost drove him insane, yet she continued to introduce more goa'ulds into the population. As you must be aware, the goa'uld tend to be arrogant, selfish and completely self-absorbed. Mixing all that goa'uld DNA together makes for an even bigger mess. Unfortunately, it's literally driving our people crazy. We need an infusion of new human genes to dilute the bloodlines. That's where you come in."

She was so close now, Daniel could almost touch her, but he remained frozen, fighting the waves of nausea that continued to worsen. His breath was coming in short, pained gasps. Lysandra frowned down at him. "How much drug did you give him, Octavius. You do know pure humans can't tolerate as much as our people can, don't you."

"I simply provided the pitcher, Lysandra. I have no idea how much he drank. Certainly it would be easier to do this the traditional way, but it's not a requirement."

Lysandra glared at him in fury and before Daniel even realized what had happened she'd turned, swept up the half-full pitcher and hurled it at Octavius. It smashed into the doorjamb beside his head raining shards of glass that peppered his face, leaving spatterings of red blood in their wake. "Fool!!" she screamed at the top of her voice as she stalked toward him. "Have you developed genetic engineering skills in the weeks I've been dormant. Or has Nirrti reappeared on our doorstep to continue her studies?" She grabbed Octavius by the throat and pulled him into the room, shaking him as she continued screaming at him, "I . . . thought . . . not."

Octavius didn't struggle, but instead drew his arm back and smashed her across the face with his forearm. The force of the blow knocked her into the wall, causing her to release her grip from his throat. Daniel felt his blood run cold when the man's eyes flared with light, and he realized that Janus had never left the planet after all.

"You'd best learn your place, daughter," the man sneered, his voice now unmistakably goa'uld. "I know exactly what I'm doing. Nirrti was kind enough to leave her research behind when she disabled the transport device and trapped me on this hellhole." He laughed bitterly, "Of course, that might have been because she was in a bit of a rush since my blade had just missed slicing her traitorous throat. I've had millennia to study that research and I know very well what steps need to be taken next and exactly how to take them."

"I'm sorry, father," Lysandra responded meekly. "I didn't realize it was you. I thought it was still that fool Octavius."

Janus bared his teeth in fury, "I still have enough control that I was able to make him drink before he sent the food and water into them. It becomes easier as the years pass to influence his feeble mind. But I want to be FREE! I'm tired of being trapped in this wretched body and having to deal with that fool. I am a god and I will not continue to live like this!"

Janus stalked restlessly back and forth in front of her trying to calm himself. "And now that you're here to take care of this situation, I intend to take full advantage of the fact that our new friend Daniel's companions have been kind enough to reactivate the transport device. If any pure humans are still there when I get to the transport station, I'll send them down to you. But I intend to hunt down that treacherous bitch, Niirti, no matter how far I have to go or how long it takes. And I WILL make her suffer for what she's put me through all these years. She must have figured out a way to fix this mess by now, and I'll get it from her -- if I have to take her apart piece by piece to get her to tell me."

Lysandra smiled viciously at him. "That may be difficult since our dear Daniel told Larinda that Nirrti is dead, and that his friends had a hand in killing her."

"WHAT!!" Janus screamed, turning angrily toward Daniel, his eyes flashing brilliantly again.

Daniel hadn't let the precious few moments their attention had wandered from him go to waste. Gripping the knife fiercely, he'd pulled himself up, ignoring the nausea and dizziness that wanted to drag him down again. Just as Janus realized he was no longer by the chest and turned toward him, Daniel stumbled through the doorway, pressing the door latch to make it close as he passed and shoving the knife through the control panel to jam the door. It would only buy him a few extra minutes, but he intended to make those minutes count.

He didn't make it far before his stomach clutched violently and Daniel leaned against the wall as he vomited, trying to keep from falling. Almost immediately he felt relief from the dizziness and nausea. Realizing he'd purged some of the drug made the cramping in his midsection almost bearable. What kept his stomach knotting was the realization that had just hit him of what Nirrti had really been trying to do. There could only be one reason for mixing all that goa'uld DNA together. She'd been trying to make her own harsesis -- children with the genetic memory of all their goa'uld forebears.

The fact that Janus didn't seem to realize what she'd been up to was little comfort. The madness gripping these people may have been a result of the genetic engineering, but Daniel also feared it could be a result of receiving a flood of memories they couldn't understand or interpret. What if Nirrti had succeeded after all? If it had worked, having all that knowledge at the disposal of any one goa'uld would make them unstoppable. He knew he had to find a way to get this information back to Stargate Command, but had no idea how to go about doing it. He still didn't know where he had been found, let alone how to get back there or even if there would be a way to get back to his people from there if he did find it.

The temple was eerily quiet as he passed into the newer section and Daniel realized that the ceremony at the coliseum must still be going on. Making his way quietly to the outer ring of the complex, he avoided the main entrance and instead found an open ground floor window leading to a terrace. He climbed out quickly and stumbled toward town, where he thought a stranger would be less conspicuous among the drug-maddened crowd.

He'd almost made it to the coliseum when his vision began to blur again and the nausea returned. The adrenaline rush that had gotten him out of the temple was fading and with the drug making a fresh assault on his already battered system, it was all he could do to remain on his feet. He heard the faraway sound of gongs from the coliseum. Almost immediately screams rent the air. People started pouring out of the building and Daniel watched in fresh horror as the bodies contorted into strange shapes. His blurring vision made the hellish scene even worse, multiplying the number of features on the already nightmarish figures struggling and screaming around him.

Daniel pressed himself against the side of the building, trying desperately to hide from the chaos around him as his body felt like it was being ripped apart from the inside. There was nothing left to vomit. He could only struggle against what the drug was doing to his body and not give into it. And he was very afraid he was going to lose the struggle.

"_DANIEL! DANIEL!_" he heard the frantic voice calling him from a distance. It was Larinda's gentle voice, not the harsh, brittle one of her Other, but he made no movement or sound to attract her, the memory of Lysandra calling Larinda her puppet still fresh in his mind. The world around him started to grey out again as he slid to the ground, but this time he couldn't stop it from engulfing him.


	4. FacesChapter4

**Chapter 4**

Daniel woke to find Larinda stooped over him crying. He felt disoriented and confused, realizing the white room he was in was wrong, but not sure why. Hadn't he been outside somewhere? "I'm so sorry, Daniel," she was saying. "I'm so sorry. I didn't know that they were planning to kill you. I swear it. We have to do something to help our people before the madness destroys them. But not that way. Not that way!"

Pieces of what had happened started to come back to him. He wasn't sure how long he'd been unconscious, but physically he felt somewhat better. There was still a nasty headache, but the nausea and disorientation had receded.

Larinda started to hand him a glass of water, but he shook his head and waved it away. "What happened to Lysandra?" he asked weakly.

"She killed him," Larinda said, the shock obvious on her face. "When you escaped, Octavius went to chase you. She was so angry at the way he'd treated her. She saw the knife in the door panel, pulled it out and stabbed him with it. Gods, I could see and feel it all. It was awful. The way his eyes glowed. I don't understand."

"He was Janus," Daniel responded absently, rubbing his eyes to try and clear away the last of the cobwebs clouding his brain. "The glowing eyes are one of the telltale signs of a goa'uld."

"He was hiding among us all this time and I never realized it," she said numbly. "He had the perfect cover as Octavius. As one of the consuls he would always know what was going on. I was such a fool."

"You haven't told me what happened to Lysandra. Is it possible she can come back?"

Larinda looked away from him, her lips trembling as she spoke, "She went after you. But she came up to the coliseum just as the chimes started. I fought her for control. There was still enough of the drug in our system that she wasn't able to hold on. I'm in control now," she smiled weakly at him. "And I was able to pull some other useful knowledge from her mind before she gave up. I know how to get you home now, and, once all this is done, I swear I'll do it. I swear."

Before he had time to fully process what she'd said, she leaned over and kissed him. It took him by surprise, her lips so soft and gentle on his own, but as he instinctively kissed her back, he realized there was something wrong – something on her lips left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth. He pulled away from her, having only a second to realize what she'd done, before the drug hit his system, chasing away thought and reason. There was only the sensation of her soft lips on his and her body pressing against his own, then the world disappeared into the grey mist again.

* * *

"It is the radio signals from the walkie-talkies," Samantha Carter said excitedly. "But I wasn't able to recreate the effect until I shut down the console and reactivated it again. Watch what happens when I activate one of them now." She pressed the button, and spoke into the device, "Carter to O'Neill."

Across the room a small shimmer of light appeared from a hole in the wall. "Did you see that," she asked excitedly. That's right about where Daniel was standing when he disappeared."

"Alright," O'Neill said. "Stay here and activate it again. I'm going to go find Daniel and bring him back."

"Sir?!" Carter protested. "We have no idea how this system works. I don't think it's a very good sign that Daniel hasn't returned on his own. How do we know that if you go through, you'll be able to make it back?"

"And what if Daniel's injured and can't make it back on his own, Carter? Are we just supposed to leave him there - wherever there happens to be? I assume you haven't figured that part of it out yet, so we could just send a ship for him."

"Of course we're not going to leave him, sir. But we've gotten this far. I think we can afford to give it a little more time before jumping haphazardly into a rescue mission that might only result in more people being missing."

The argument at the main console had the attention of everyone in the room, so no one noticed the tiny shimmer of light that momentarily flickered across the room.

Deeply engrossed in the notepad containing his translations, Dr. Benedetto didn't even notice the heated exchange going on between Carter and O'Neill as he walked into the room and headed toward the wall with the Latin inscriptions. His concentration only left the notepad when the toe of his shoe hit something soft but unyielding. He looked down, perplexed by what he saw. "Excuse me," he said in a weak voice. When that elicited no response from the squabbling military officers, he yelled, "EXCUSE ME!" All eyes turned his way. "Has someone called a doctor for Dr. Jackson? He looks quite ill."

After a moment of stunned silence, Carter jumped toward Daniel snapping, "Quick, get him away from that wall before he disappears again."

Daniel could hear the rush of familiar voices around him and struggled for consciousness. He opened his eyes to see Samantha Carter stooped over him. "Sam, Sam, take out the crystal. Take it out. Before they can follow. Please. Don't let them take . . . ," his voice trailed off as his eyes closed again and his body went limp.

Badly shaken by Daniel's condition and the fear in his voice, Carter moved quickly over to the console, ripped the cover of the control panel open and pulled out the crystal, smashing it to pieces under her boot.


	5. FacesChapter5

**Chapter 5**

"How is he, Doctor?" General Hammond asked as each member of the group around the conference table instinctively leaned in to hear the answer.

"You all know we almost lost him when you first brought him back," Dr. Janet Fraiser reported, a line of worry creasing her forehead. "We managed to get him back and he's stable for the moment. But his tox screen's a mess. He was pumped full of a drug that, as far as I can tell, seems to be part tranquilizer, part hallucinogen and part inhibition relaxer, along with a smattering of other elements I've never seen before let alone could identify. It was throughout his system.

"His blood count was also dangerously low which exacerbated the effect of the drug. I couldn't find any apparent wounds to explain the blood loss, so it appears someone took some samples before sending him back. We've given him transfusions and his blood count is almost back to normal now. We're also continuing to pump fluids into him to try and dilute what's left of the drug in his system."

"Prognosis?"

"The best I can give you right now, General, is guarded. Physically, he'll recover, but until he wakes up and I can assess the cognitive damage, I can't really give you an assessment on his mental condition. The closest comparison I can make regarding the drug right now is that its identifiable components are similar to those in central nervous system depressants, like Rohypnol."

"Isn't that the one they call the date rape drug?" Carter asked, perplexed.

Fraiser nodded. "In that context, it's used to relax the inhibitions of the person it's given to, making them more receptive to suggestion, or in more severe cases totally unable to resist what's being done to them."

"Could they have been using the drug to try to get information out of him?"

"Possibly, General. There's no way to tell for sure at this point."

"He can tell us when he wakes up," O'Neill said.

"Maybe not, sir," Fraiser replied. "One of the most common side effects of Rohypnol is an almost total loss of short term memory regarding the activities engaged in while under the influence of the drug. One of the reasons it's used in date rape situations is because it leaves the victim unable to identify the assailant or sometimes to even remember that they've been assaulted. If the drug used on Daniel has similar properties, he may not remember anything about what happened to him while he was under its influence. And considering the massive quantities of it that were in his system, the memory loss could be even more severe than usual."

"Would the memory loss be permanent?" Carter asked.

Fraiser shrugged, "As I said before, I have no way of knowing. This is an alien drug. Even though its chemical composition is similar to Rohypnol, there's no telling how the unidentifiable components fit into the equation. The brain is very complex, and we don't totally understand how it processes memories in the first place. We do know there's biochemical and electrical activity involved. It's impossible to know whether the drug interferes with the brain's ability to store memories at all or whether it simply causes the memories to be processed in a way that makes them difficult for the brain to access."

"Like a computer program written in one programming language can't be processed by a computer using a different language?" Carter asked.

"Exactly."

General Hammond leaned back thoughtfully in his chair. "Major Carter, what is the status of the alien equipment in the console room?"

"As you know, sir, the only thing Daniel said when he came back was to take out the crystal to keep 'them' from following. I immediately pulled the replacement crystal he had given me before this all started out of the console . . . and smashed it." The admission that she had allowed her emotions to so completely overwhelm her scientific practicality came hard. "The console appears to be dead again, and, as far as I can tell, there are no active power sources in the room at this time."

"Are there any more spare crystals?"

"Yes, sir. There are several in the storage compartment."

"But none are in the console."

"The ones that were there when we first arrived are still in it, except for the one we replaced."

"I don't want anything else destroyed until we can get some kind of report from Dr. Jackson," Hammond gave Carter a pointed look and she looked away in embarrassment, "but in the meantime, I want **_all_** of the crystals pulled from that console and placed in the storage compartment and all of our people recalled from P3X-846. I also want preparations made so that particular stargate address can be locked out of the dialing computer immediately if I determine from Dr. Jackson's report that we are in imminent danger from anyone at the other end of that transport device. I don't want anyone else down there until we know exactly what we're facing."

"Yes, sir," Carter and O'Neill responded in unison. Carter added, "May I bring some samples of the crystals back with me for analysis, sir?"

"As long as you're sure they pose no threat to anyone on this base. Dismissed."

* * *

"Hey, how ya doin'," O'Neill asked cautiously, looking down at Daniel, who was sitting under a tree, his back against the trunk, staring up at the sky.

Daniel tore his gaze reluctantly from the clear blue sky over Cheyenne Mountain and focused on his three friends standing there, looking so concerned.

"You know what they say. Any day you're still alive to tell the tale is a good day. After three weeks trapped in the infirmary, it's just good to be out in the fresh air and able to see the sky again."

"Speaking of telling tales, have you remembered anything?" Sam asked gently.

Daniel closed his eyes in resignation, wishing fervently that people would stop asking that question. "Bits and pieces all jumbled together. I know Nirrti had something to do with it all, but the details seem to dance right outside my line of sight. And every time I reach for one it fades away."

"Perhaps it is better if you do not try so hard to remember, Daniel Jackson," Teal'c interjected. "I have discovered that some memories, especially unpleasant ones, will most often surface when you least wish to think about them."

"Maybe that's true Teal'c, but it would be nice to have a choice about it. For all I know, what I've forgotten could be vitally important to the Stargate program and our battle with the goa'uld. I know Nirrti has something to do with it. That automatically makes it bad. Another one of her crazy experiments gone haywire, I think. Janus was a goa'uld. I remember that much. No big surprise there. There was a woman, no two women. Or one woman who was two. God, I sound insane."

He closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the tree, tempted to start smashing his head against it to shake the information loose. "I hate knowing there's another chunk of my life that's just gone. At least for the period when I was ascended I have some idea where I was and what I was doing there. This is just a great big blank, except for some B-horror movie type flashes. And it doesn't help to know that because of the hallucinogen in the drug, what little I do remember may not even be right."

"Janet says you're going to be just fine," Sam said soothingly. "Hold onto that right now and let the rest take care of itself. It's possible it may all come back to you later. In the meantime, Dr. Benedetto was hoping you'd be willing to help him translate the inscriptions from the transport room."

Daniel sighed heavily at the thought. He knew that once he got back to his normal routine, he would probably feel better, but he couldn't get rid of the urgent sense that the answers he was looking for were important and that they were right there in front of him, just waiting for him to fight hard enough to get to them. "Give me another day or two, okay."

"Whenever you're ready," O'Neill said. "Nobody's going to push you."

Daniel nodded and gave his friends a half-hearted smile before turning his gaze back to the clear blue sky overhead, continuing to search for answers that stubbornly refused to come.

* * *

On the other side of the galaxy, Larinda stood on the parapet of the temple looking up at the clear blue sky over Remana. Instinctively, her hand went to her swelling belly and she gently caressed it, feeling the wonder of the new life growing inside her -- the life that would be the salvation of her people.

Janus was dead, as was Nirrti, but they had left all their data behind in the computer in the central temple. Thanks to that last struggle for control with Lysandra, Larinda knew what they had been planning and why. She had been able to access all of the data on the failed experiments and had spent the last few weeks studying it intently. It sickened her to know that the priestesses had been lied to and used for centuries to accumulate the data, but at least now it would be put to good use. And knowing she was the only one left who had the knowledge to do it was all that kept her going most days.

She knew how to save her people from the madness that was consuming them and would do what had to be done. Her child and the vials of blood that were safely in storage were the keys. But having to live with what she had done to obtain them was its own punishment. And it was made all the more ironic by the fact that, since the pregnancy had begun, Lysandra had not even tried to take control of their body. "I know you believe you can just wear me down," she murmured softly to her Other, "but it won't work. You think you'll wait it out until I'm too physically and emotionally worn out from all of this to fight back, then you'll step in and take over after I've done all the hard work. But I'm stronger than you'll ever know. And I'm not going to let you harm my child!"

Grasping the wall of the parapet to steady herself, Larinda turned her gaze back to the sky, trying to accept that there could be no respite, however brief, from the sea of regrets that wanted to drown her. She would have to continue to live every moment of the day with the memory of his face -- the pain and betrayal etched in it for those brief seconds between his realization of what she'd done and when the drug had done it's terrible work. And the memory of how pale and still he had been as he lay on the transport platform before she sent him back to his people. And the knowledge that she might never know the truth about her greatest fear -- that she may very well have killed him herself after all she had tried to do to prevent the others from doing it.

"I'm sorry, Daniel," she whispered to the sky. "I'm so sorry it had to be this way." With one last wistful look at the sky and a silent prayer that she could find some peace from the haunting memories, if only for a little while, she turned and slowly made her way back into the temple, bracing herself for the difficult work that still lay ahead.

**THE END**


End file.
